“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” (Rev. 2:4).
What is first love? It is absorbing love that finds full and complete satisfaction of heart in its object.
There was a time when Christ was all in all to the assembly at Ephesus. He satisfied their hearts, absorbed their thoughts and engrossed their energies. But that early freshness had passed, though they had not ceased to labor for Christ nor to love and suffer for Him. But all had now lost its early freshness—they had left their first love.
What had satisfied and absorbed them in the early days? Was it not the realization of Christ’s love for them? The love that passes knowledge—the love of Christ for His assembly—had been set before them. But as time passed, they had lost in measure the sense of His great love, and He can never be satisfied with such a condition.
H. Smith